How to Recruit 40 Employees [On Atlassian]

Here’s the white board in our HR Director Flanagan’s office with 44 hires we are planning in Sydney and San Francisco. Notice the stern warning at the top: “You can delete but not add!”

How do you recruit 40 employees? Step one: write down the roles you need to fill. If you put it on a white board, then the goal becomes visual. And when you are doubling in size every year like Atlassian, the goal can be intimidating.

Step two: work very very hard. 🙂

If you’re passionate about your work and want to work with like-minded individuals, learn more about Atlassian and what we are looking for.

And take it from a guy who helped grow five startups, hire only as quickly as you can train, adapt, and deploy. Otherwise you’re going to end up with a couple dozens shmoes wandering the country wondering why they exist and what purpose they serve.

One of the startups, under intense VC pressure, got the bright idea to expand from less than 50 personnel to more than 300 in 18 months. I’ll let you guess how that story ended.